They Call This Tragedy
by le.etoile
Summary: Normally, when one problem is solved, another comes along to take its place. Only this time, it's not a something that can be fixed. It can only be accepted Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly, further emphasizing the beautiful day presented to the residents of Karakura Town. In a classroom on the far side of the city, a girl sat beside the window, gazing at the outside world, watching the small events unfold in front of her. The way the gentle wind carried the leaves, taking them away and bringing them both nearer and further away from the window, as if dancing, mesmerized her. How a small child and his mother walked past the school gates, the child pointing to the enormous building as if he was telling his mom of the adventures he'd have there one day, made her smile in amusement.

Inoue Orihime propped her chin in the palm of her hand and let the smile overtake her. The smallest things seemed to be the most interesting ones to her, and it was even more fun if she imagined tiny tales to accompany the images presented in front of her.

Sat next to her in class was none other than her good friend Kuchiki Rukia.

Rukia had initially come with the mission of restoring Ichigo's powers, using her energy as well as many more shinigami to restore his reiatsu. Once he was fully powered up again and they all battled the Fullbringers, things settled back into the norm, with Rukia oddly back in the school once more.

Not that Orihime minded it. She loved seeing Rukia, especially after that long year without seeing her.

Turning her head towards her petite friend, she flashed a smile at her. Rukia, in return, turned and gave her a small smirk before attending back to her book.

Orihime's attention turned back to the front and she watched the teacher scribble something about Hamlet on the board. She focused on the lesson for a few minutes when she noticed Sado on the other side of the room, silent and still as he usually was. She couldn't help but giggle at her large friend paying so much attention to the Shakespearean lesson.

Her and Sado have been training more and more after school nowadays. Just because the threat with the Fullbringers was over didn't mean they shouldn't still be at the top of their game. So when they could, they met up and trained in Urahara's training grounds. He was more than willing to let the two train when they needed to be, and he seemed suspiciously optimistic about the results they could achieve by practicing so much.

So while Sado worked on perfecting a new, 'upgraded' version of his El Directo that was nearly twice as powerful as the original, Orihime tried to perfect her recent power, Shiten Koshun, as well as more training with Tsubaki.

With her attack fairy, she was more or less trying to talk to him and get them both to a spot where they could agree on how and when to properly use him. Although most of their discussions were at home and more private, she couldn't help but think back and realize how silly she seemed, talking battle plans with her fairy. Still, their talks proved to be more than helpful, and by doing so, Orihime had become much stronger and her resolve to use him grew much stronger. Tsubaki seemed fairly pleased with the results as well.

Sado seemed to be working so much harder, though. He would go to Urahara's place even on weekends, which both amazed Orihime at his stamina as well as worry her, making her fear that he wouldn't give himself time to rest. But his determination only served as fuel for her own, and she made that much more of an effort to keep up with her strong friend.

As usual, Orihime spent a lot of time with her best friend Tatsuki. Not only did she train with Sado to further her powers, she trained quite often with Tatsuki, learning more moves and attacks in karate. She could train all she wanted with Sado to strengthen herself mentally for the use of her powers, but it would be in vain if she didn't have the physical strength to back it up.

Tatsuki was hesitant at first, to help her with karate, only because she didn't know the reason behind her inquiry. Once Orihime explained what she was doing and that she just needed a little more training in the physical aspect, Tatsuki reluctantly agreed. She also bopped Orihime on the head, telling her she'd get more of that if she carelessly threw herself into hollow battles and got herself hurt. Orihime understood why Tatsuki didn't want her to jump into the middle of those battles. Orihime was strong, but the enemy could always be stronger, and the healer knew all too well about those kinds of situations.

Orihime hadn't seen Ishida nearly as much as she used to. Between school, work, and training, she really only got to see him during the Handicrafts club, which was only twice a week. They weren't in the same class anymore, much to her dismay, but she was still thankful for the time they did get during club activities. If It weren't for the club, she wouldn't see him at all. Ishida normally seemed glad to see her, when they got the chance, and it made Orihime happy to know that their friendship was still strong and kicking.

And then there was Ichigo.

Even in the middle of class, thinking about him brought a blush to her cheeks. Thinking back to recent events, her heart couldn't help but race over the notion of them getting closer.

Since the battle with the Fullbringers, Ichigo had been feeble on where to stand with her, or he was at first. She still felt terrible about what happened concerning Tsukishima's memory altercation, but she let herself guess that after being by his side for so long and unwavering in her decision to help him, to suddenly help the enemy was a great shock to him. She sometimes worried he still thought she no longer wanted to help him or be his friend, but with great determination and what little free time she had left in her week, she made sure to go above and beyond to show him that she would be there for him, no matter what else happened.

Once Ichigo determined that she really was there to stay, he seemed to warm up to her in ways she'd never imagined. He'd occasionally join her for lunch and he'd regularly ask her if she wanted him to walk her home. Her heart always threatened to jump out of her chest, whenever he asked that, and she had to refuse most of the time. It wasn't that she didn't want to (because in actuality, she _really_ wanted to), but she had so much going on otherwise. Her ranting over her reasons of why she couldn't and how she had wanted to always left him with that small smile, just for her. He would always tell her that he understood, because he really did know she was busy, and would give her a pat on the head and a reminder that she should take breaks once in a while.

Even now, as she looked at Ichigo from her seat, her face still turned red. He initiated more touches too, which usually sent her into a fit of hysterics. After only talking to him for so long, to suddenly be tapped on the shoulder or nudged in the side was a wonderful, new thing. She tried to reciprocate when she could, almost imitating his actions towards her, with the nudging and tapping, but her embarrassment would get in the way and she would become an immediate bumbling mess right in front of him.

But the small things wasn't what had her so happy around him. There was still the matter of fighting together.

A few weeks ago, Orihime's attention was called to a rather large hollow attack nearby her home. As she had thrown a jacket on and slipped on some shoes, she could already feel Ichigo's reiatsu racing her direction. Still, she wanted to get to the scene as quick as she could, partially in fear that innocent bystanders may have been hurt and partially wanting to help Ichigo take down the hollow.

She arrived on the scene before he did and she attempted to shoot Tsubaki towards the hollow. The small, but fierce fairy zoomed around the hollows head, looking for a clear opening to attack. Orihime had yelled to him that there was a spot on his left that he could get, and she could seem him taking the opportunity, flying so fast she could barely see her small friend. The hollow proved to be too smart for the two and he took a swipe at the offending object, not able to damage Tsubaki by any means, but only allowed a fraction of a second for him to dodge the giant hand.

Calling Tsubaki back, Orihime stood her ground and prepared to call out her other three fairies to form her Shiten Koshun when the hollow noticed the human on the ground. How it happened seemed to go both slow and fast at the same time, because Orihime remembered calling her fairies out when the large hand struck down upon her shield.

As it attacked, Ichigo was suddenly beside her, grabbing her by the waist and shunpoing them both to the top of a nearby building. It was the first time she'd ever shunpoed and it definitely left her head feeling rather dizzy. At the time, she was seeing almost three different Ichigos in one spot and it made her nauseous. She'd wanted to relish in the feeling of him holding her by the waist, but the vertigo-like world placed that thought in the far recesses of her mind.

_So this is what it's like,_ she thought to herself, holding her head. The three-headed Ichigo had frowned at her, but she could see the worry embedded in the nine brown eyes swirling around.

He jumped the gun and immediately asked her if she was alright, unable to help but notice the way she was trying to keep her head from moving too much. As the spinning slowed, Orihime nodded her head and smiled, explaining that she was just fine. As usual, she apologized to him for trying to fight before he got here. Normally when she jumped right in before Ichigo arrived, he'd usually lightly scold her and tell her that it was too dangerous to be fighting when he wasn't there.

But this time was different. Ichigo shook his head and told her not to apologize. He mentioned how it looked like she was actually doing a pretty good job at keeping it contained in one spot until he got there and that he appreciated the help. The less it moved around, the less damaged it caused to the city, which was considered a very good thing when fighting hollows.

His praise warmed Orihime's heart. She felt like she had been finally able to help him for once! Her big smile couldn't be held back any longer and it was only the roar of the hollow that drew their attention away from their own little world to the monster in front of them.

Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and stepped closer to the edge of the building, ready to attack. However, he stopped right before the ledge and looked back at her questionably. She was confused about his look, but what he asked her was something she'd never forget.

"Aren't you coming?"

Ichigo had willingly let her help in defeating the hollow, rather than tell her to stay back where it was safe. His train of thought definitely plagued her for weeks to come, but she refused to forget how she used Tsubaki to distract the hollow and used her Santen Kesshun to block attacks Ichigo hadn't seen coming. It took a little while to defeat the monster, but as a team, they worked together to properly cleanse its soul and send it to the other side.

Ever since then, Ichigo's allowed her to help with hollow attacks, whenever she was on scene at the same time. There had been some close calls with both of them, instigating worry from both parties towards one another, but it was usually no more than a few scratches or bruises and it wasn't anything that Orihime couldn't heal.

The way he was acting around her made her nervous, confused, but mainly happy. To finally be interacted with in a whole new perspective made her heart soar and her mind wander. There had been times in the past few weeks, such as that first hollow attack, that made her want to come right out and tell Ichigo the truth about her feelings. The way he responded to her occasionally gave her hope that he might feel the same way, or at least would acknowledge the emotions and not be nervous because of what she was feeling.

However, since Rukia came back from Soul Society and with her new, busy schedule, such confessions were not possible at the moment. Orihime determined that if she'd tell Ichigo how she felt, it would be the right moment, and that she'd know in her gut when it was time. Right now, that sign was absent, and Orihime chose to respect the lack of that feeling.

Bringing herself out of her memories, Orihime realized that she had daydreamed again, thinking back to the events of the past few weeks. She blinked heavily and blushed, thinking that she probably looked foolish letting her mind wander off in class yet again. However, with all of them being in their third year of school, she found herself imaging her future more and more and what would lie ahead; her biggest question being if she would confess early enough to let Ichigo be in it, if he wanted to.

"Inoue?" called a voice, snapping her from her thoughts. She looked up to see Rukia standing over her desk, giving her friend a soft smirk. Her face grew hot upon discovering that she'd probably made her wait for so long.

"O-Oh, Kuchiki-san! Did I keep you waiting long?" she blurted out, probably talking far too fast for the petite shinigami.

"Not at all. We just have a break before math next, so we should probably take advantage of it," Rukia explained, pointing her thumb towards the classroom door. Behind her, Orihime could see Ichigo leaving with Sado and Keigo, off to do their own thing as well before the classes started again.

Smiling back, Orihime stood from her seat and nodded in acknowledgment to Rukia. Together, they left the classroom, determined to return for their next lesson soon.

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	2. Chapter 2

_Huzzah, the next chapter is up! Thank you to all that have reviewed so far and added this story to their alerts/faves. I greatly appreciate it! And for those of you that have asked as to why this is titled 'They Call This Tragedy', the story WILL be with angst at one point. Things will be slow to start out with, but once things get rolling a little more, you'll see why I chose the title I have.  
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_The next chapter will not be up so soon, like this one was. I realized I wrote far too much in 24 hours and I need to give myself a day or two to recoup before attacking the next chapter. So while it won't be up as quick as this one was, I'll still try to get it done relatively soon-ish._

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor will I ever!

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><p>It was a Tuesday afternoon when Orihime invited Ichigo and Rukia to go get ice cream after classes.<p>

Luckily, it was one of the few days Orihime didn't have work or training planned, which made it one of those days she'd be able to spend time with her close friends. She'd invited Rukia to come since they'd hardly spent any time together since she got back and she invited Ichigo because, well, he was Ichigo. (To Orihime, that was reason enough.) Fortunately for her, he was very agreeable and tagged along, despite being the only guy to come along.

"This is so good!" Orihime moaned excitedly, taking another lick of her cold treat. She couldn't help but squirm with happiness in her seat next to Rukia, with Ichigo sitting across from them. Once the store had come out with the new mango and orange sorbet, which she wanted to try for the longest time, Orihime made it her mission to drag her friends along to come try it out. Rukia smiled at her enthusiasm as she took a bite of her chocolate mint ice cream cone.

"I have to agree, this is very good," Rukia commented with the same amount of exuberance, unable to stop herself from taking another bite. However, that quicker second bite led to a sudden brain freeze, and Orihime giggled at once the small shinigami grabbed her head in slight agony. "H-How did you say you found this place?" she tried to ask, doing her best to keep her teeth from chattering as she spoke.

Orihime glanced over at Ichigo, whom suddenly sported a faint hue of red on his cheeks. Orihime thought it was peculiar, considering he was eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream, but she had to wonder if it was because he was actually the one to suggest it to her in the first place. Would it be possible for him to be embarrassed if she were to tell the truth?

"Kurosaki-kun mentioned it to me a few weeks ago," she responded, taking another bite of her sorbet and writhing her body once again at the delicious taste. "He suggested we go here some time!"

On Ichigo's side of the table, he was ready to choke on his ice cream. When he suggested that to his healer friend, he had intended to go with her alone. She had been so busy lately and he'd honestly enjoyed spending time with her during school when they could manage, on top of appreciating her hard work with the hollow attacks, so he wanted to treat her out as an embarrassing way of saying 'thanks'.

But with Rukia being invited to come along, this time to hang out with Orihime was going to be nonexistent.

He could feel the daggers from her glare and noticed the knowing smirk from Rukia, but since he couldn't just hit her in the shoulder or tell her to shut up, he was forced to stare at the boring, blue ice cream bowl instead, giving it the death stare it didn't deserve. Although come to think of it, Orihime probably wouldn't have appreciated him yelling at her friend either, even if she knew the two friends often bickered.

"Actually..." Rukia's voice grew quiet, changing from her previously startled tone from the sudden brain freeze from before, to something much more serious. "This is a good time to tell you two, since we're all together now."

Orihime was just about eat a bite of sorbet when she spoke, making her stomach twist and turn as she wondered what had caused her to sound so serious all of a sudden. She brought her spoon back down to the bowl and waited for her to continue.

"Tell us what?" Ichigo asked, his voice leveling out from the high pitch he would've probably emitted had he not cleared his throat before speaking. He was still focused on the train wreck of thoughts in his head, over Orihime, and he probably would've made a fool of himself if he hadn't snapped his focus back to the present.

"Considering I'm still in Karakura, you two probably have already guessed that there's another reason I'm here," she said, closing her eyes and tightening her grip around the cone. Orihime's eyes widened in surprise, bringing back that familiar train of thought from before. She'd wondered why Rukia was still here in Karakura Town, now that Ichigo had his powers back. So she was going to explain herself now? If she was, what was so terrible as to incite this reaction from her?

Ichigo scoffed, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "This better be a damn good reason, considering you've decided to make yourself at home at my place again."

Orihime couldn't help but turn her attention back to Ichigo, the foreign feeling of jealousy bubbling up in her stomach again. It wasn't like Ichigo _had_ to tell her Rukia was staying with them again and she told herself she needn't mind anyway. Rukia was a good friend to her and she was sure that, by now, the shinigami knew of Orihime's feelings for Ichigo.

So instead of focusing too much on that ridiculous feeling, Orihime immediately squashed that vicious thought and returned herself to the conversation. Why Rukia was still in Karakura was much more important than silly envy issues.

"Soul Society has issued an alert for a missing person," Rukia explained, her gravely serious expression changing back to her normally nonchalant one. She licked at her cone again before talking further. "Shinigami are being sent to cities to find people with high reiatsu signatures, and I asked to be sent here." The change in expression baffled Orihime and Ichigo, more the former than the latter, but she knew to just go with it and continue listening.

Orihime had a little trouble following along and judging by the confusion written on Ichigo's face as well, he was having problems too. Trying to process what she meant, Orihime took another bite and tried to chose her words carefully. There was a missing person in Soul Society and Rukia was the one stationed here to find that person?

"So this missing person... They have an unusual reiatsu?" she asked, hoping she worded herself right. Rukia nodded and took a bite out of the cone.

Orihime could feel a little more at ease now one step closer to understanding and Ichigo's puzzled look made her realize that he was still trying to piece things together. She very much wanted to lean over and tell him what Rukia meant, but Ichigo cut to the chase and spoke instead.

"What's so important about this person that has Soul Society sending vice captains to do their work?" Ichigo asked, his eyes reading suspicious. The way his eyes gleamed with such different emotions made Orihime blush a little, surprised to see a whole new reaction from him. "I'm guessing Kenpachi is now roaming around Tokyo too?" Rukia rolled her eyes and sighed, clearly not in the mood to deal with his antics. But to Orihime, the image of Kenpachi skulking in Tokyo reminded her of Godzilla which resulted in a giggle escaping her.

"Don't be an idiot, Ichigo," she scoffed at him, finishing up her cone. "I told you, I asked to come here. And don't you forget our first mission here, to restore your powers."

The irritation over the way Rukia was withholding information was immediately squashed by her comment, making him realize she was trying to remind him that he wouldn't even be in on this conversation if it weren't for her and the others. He retreated back to his dish, grumbling and mumbling as he took another bite.

Wiping her mouth from excess ice cream, Rukia sighed happily, making it clear that the ice cream cone was very delicious. "Is there anything we can do to help, Kuchiki-san?" Orihime asked, following right behind her and finishing up her sorbet. Rukia folded her arms across her chest and gave it a moments thought before replying.

"If you want to keep an eye out on high reiatsus aside from your own, it could help," she thought slowly, thinking of ways that even them, as humans, could help out. "But don't feel like you're obligated to help in any way. That's my mission, and that's why I'm here." Rukia just decided to offer the help out to them, more or less because they would both want to be of assistance somehow, especially Orihime.

"Of course we'll help," Orihime smiled, clapping her hands together. She was always more than willing to lend a hand when it came to her friends, not to mention the mission of finding a mission person seemed like a fun one. She could be like a hardcore detective, with Ichigo acting as her secret bookie! Or maybe he could be her secret lover on the side. That is, if he was willing to play the part. "Won't we, Kurosaki-kun?"

Her sudden inquiry to help out caused him to choke on his ice cream yet again, in response, making him pound at his chest to get it to work though. He couldn't just say no to her, she was Inoue! (As if that was enough of a reason in itself.)

At the same time, he didn't entirely feel like getting mixed up in yet another mission for Soul Society. He was just getting used to his powers again and he didn't want to be thrown into another mess.

Yet Orihime was looking at him expectantly and Rukia was snickering at him, only making him feel more flustered about how to answer.

"Uh, yeah, sure..." he coughed out reluctantly, causing Orihime to smile big and Rukia's laugh to become much more apparent. While the healer's smile made him feel a little better, the petite shinigami's teasing made him feel worse all over once more.

Again, he wondered, why did she have to tag along? It could've been just him and Orihime catching up on all sorts of things they hadn't been able to tell each other in the past few weeks.

"Thank you for bringing us here, Inoue," Rukia turned to her, flashing a grin her way. "And thank _you, _Ichigo, for telling Orihime about this place." Ichigo felt his heart drop once Rukia decided to wink at him, alerting him that she was onto his game, or at least his train of thought. Or maybe he was just paranoid.

As Rukia watched Ichigo grow flustered over an innocent action and Orihime inquiring as to why is face was so red all of a sudden, she felt herself becoming removed from the situation with her mind wandering back to the second mission again. She had told Ichigo and Orihime that she was there to find a missing person, and that much was true.

However, there was much more to the story.

The missing person? They were more than just important, they were essential.

The individual provided a balance for all the worlds, but with the strength and reiatsu of the missing soul, that balance was being threatened. It wouldn't be long until the World of the Living would be in chaos.

The shinigami assigned to the task of finding the person, which had been almost all of them, despite ranks, had been ordered to do a rush job and find the missing person before the Living realm collapsed in on itself.

That being said, the shinigami were not only provided with the task of finding the missing individual, but to keep the specific details of the person top secret. If word got out, they expected backlash from all walks of life, especially the hollows. If the smarter hollows in Hueco Mundo caught wind of who exactly was missing, they'd surely make an attempt to steal them away for their own benefit.

Rukia's heart raced, as it did almost every moment she had been in Karakura. Knowing they were on such a short time limit caused her adrenaline rush to rush, well, constantly. If they didn't find the person soon, due to the concern of the balance, all they'd know, the people they met, the things they saw, even this little ice cream shop, would become extinct.

Sighing lightly, quietly enough as to not concern Ichigo and Orihime, Rukia intensely hoped they would find their missing royalty soon.

* * *

><p>"Anything, captain?" Rangiku asked, peering over the edge of a nearby building. She squinted, since it was currently dark and after the sun had set, on the lookout for their target. She wondered if their efforts would be futile, but they were still called out personally by Yamamoto for this task, which means they had to finish up what they were asked to do.<p>

"Not yet," Toshiro sighed, pressing buttons in his tracking device insistently.

Despite Rukia being here in the city, they had been called out to investigate an unusual reiatsu signature that was considered far too high to be a normal citizen's. Yamamoto had sent them out to find the reiatsu and determine who it was that it belonged to. Of course, with the delicate situation at hand, he had only wanted to send a captain with one of their subordinates to ensure the best handling. Toshiro was chosen, and he had selected Rangiku to tag along.

Perhaps Rukia hadn't noticed the reiatsu or was just busy. Rangiku could still sense a hollow attacking on the other side of the city and she could feel Rukia's reiatsu chasing after it.

"There," the quiet captain muttered, watching the sky due north. They two shinigami shunpoed to the location of they supposed target, landing on another building somewhat distanced from the person they were supposedly looking for. The lighting was poor on this side of town as well, but Rangiku and Toshiro still managed to spot two individuals, discovering that both of them held rather high reiatsus.

Below, in the street, were Orihime and Ichigo, walking together. Given the direction they were walking, they could only assume Ichigo was walking Orihime to her apartment. Coincidentally, they both sighed heavily in response to seeing the people they should've expected it to be in the first place.

"Phooey, it's just Ichigo and Orihime," Rangiku pouted, folding her arms under her large chest. "We should have known it was probably them, especially since Ichigo just got his powers back recently, and all."

She felt a little disappointed about their discovery. They came all the way out here to hunt down a huge reiatsu, only to find that it was the most obvious person they knew. However, she couldn't help but feel ecstatic for Orihime, knowing that her little healer friend was probably bursting with excitement over being escorted home by Ichigo.

Toshiro, however, was disbelieving. He didn't say anything, but the reiatsu was odd, too unusual to be Ichigo's alone.

They'd felt his signature before and this was too erratic and uncontrolled to be his. However, he sighed again and told himself to think it over one more time.

Ichigo was still learning to control his reiatsu again, something he had trouble with in the past and would lead one to think he would have just the same amount of trouble this time around as well. Not to mention he was always known to be erratic and jump into the middle of things. The thought that Ichigo was the source of the mysterious reiatsu wasn't a bad guess and judging by Rangiku's reaction to it all, he was led to believe that it was probably Ichigo that caused all of this.

But his gut told him otherwise. Yet with Toshiro as a captain of logic, preferring to see more evidence than believe a hunch, he was unsure of what to make of the situation. The hunch that it wasn't Ichigo's, which instead led the white-haired shinigami with a flurry of thoughts and feelings, made the captain grow frustrated on what to believe: what he _thought_ was right and what he _felt _was right.

"We should head back," Toshiro commented, turning off the tracking device and putting it inside his haori. Rangiku shifted her zanpaktou on her hip and blinked slowly, curious as to why they were leaving so suddenly.

"Already?" she asked, pursing her lips. "But we'd hardly spent any time here!"

Toshiro folded his arms and scowled lightly, growing a bit annoyed by her insistent questioning over why they were leaving. "We've already determined that the reiatsu is Kurosaki's and Inoue-san's. We have no further reason to be here." Rangiku moaned in despair and huffed.

"Then can I request permission to stay here until midnight? I wanted to see Orihime-chan!" the busty shinigami whined, clearly feigning great sadness, with fake tears, trembling lip, the whole nine yards. Toshiro didn't particularly want to put up with his vice captain whining at him for the next few days, especially when they all had enough on their plates with this missing member of the Royal Realm. His shoulders slumped as he nodded and shooed her off.

"Fine, fine, but be a minute late and I'll have you doing paperwork for a week!" he warned, definitely getting his message across judging by Rangiku's stiffened form and wide eyes. However, that expression melted fast, into a wide smile and bright eyes.

She stepped closer to the ledge and waved to her captain. "Thank you, Taichou! You definitely won't regret this!"

Rangiku disappeared off into the night, only leaving Toshiro with confusion as to what exactly he wouldn't regret by letting her go.

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><p>It had already been over twenty minutes since Ichigo walked her apartment and turned to leave and go back to his own home, yet Orihime's cheeks still burned hotly. She was worried they were going to catch on fire soon, if she didn't calm down soon enough.<p>

When Rukia's hollow alarm went off, Ichigo seemed more than enthusiastic to go after the monster. Ever since he regained his powers, he'd been incredibly willing to defeat the hollows that had popped up. It was like he was trying to make up for all the opportunities to kick butt over the long months. But it usually wasn't without an invitation to let Orihime come along, if she wanted to.

Luckily for her, yet much to Ichigo's disdain, Rukia scolded Ichigo and told him to walk the healer home. The shinigami said she was more than competent enough to defeat a low-ranked hollow and that Ichigo should take this opportunity to relax a bit more and not have to worry about every little hollow call.

However, as Orihime began to walk in the direction of her home, a few steps ahead of Ichigo, she overheard a bit of information that she implied was supposed to be a secretive comment. Rukia had told Ichigo, rather loudly, in fact, that she was seriously sorry for interrupting their little 'date' by tagging along.

While Orihime was blushing rather furiously at the idea of going on a real date with Ichigo (which immediately sent her mind into a fit of daydreams involving Ichigo, umbrellas, and a Speedo), she wished she could have turned around and told them both that she was still glad she had invited to Rukia come along, because it was still fun to hang out with her. Yet Orihime knew everyone involved would be embarrassed if they knew she had overheard.

Besides, Orihime wasn't to sure she could respond right now, with her mind still whipping up creative images of Ichigo seducing her in that small swimsuit.

So Ichigo walked her home. Things seemed a little awkward at first, almost as if they had fallen into the same routine they used to have over a year ago. They were both quiet, only making minimal conversation. Then he began to bring up things to talk about and it eased her worries. Ichigo returned to his recent norm of how he usually treated her. Dare she say special he was treating her special? He seemed to be more receptive to her ideas and thoughts, now throwing in his own responses that very much engaged their conversation further.

Despite him being like this for a while now, Orihime was still puzzled. Ichigo had never treated her so kindly until somewhat recently, so she didn't know how to respond to his actions in a way that was still comfortable for him. She knew how to take respond to him properly, in ways he would generously accept, would take some time, and that was a fact she was willing to understand.

Although the walk with Ichigo was nice, Orihime's thoughts couldn't help but drift back to Rukia and her explanation of her new mission. She knew Ichigo hadn't caught on to Rukia's emotions, but Orihime could easily tell that her tiny friend was clearly tense about the mission. Since Rukia was tense, the healer couldn't help but feel stressed about this unknown event over a missing person that was unfolding before their eyes, but had yet to be explained.

She wasn't so sure it would ever be explained, Orihime thought. The shinigami could be quite secretive when they wanted to be.

Sighing in slight frustration, Orihime wished she could help her friends more than she'd already offered to. She would definitely keep an eye out on high reiatsus, if someone with such were to come into Karakura, but without any more information, she was at a dead end in the helping department.

The doorbell rang and startled Orihime out of her stupor. She probably looked alarmed and quite frazzled as she got up from her seat and made her way to the door. The healer tried to smooth out her hair and look somewhat presentable while grabbing the handle with the other hand and swung the door open wide.

"Ah, Rangiku-san!" Orihime said, her voice high with surprise. "What are you doing here?" she blurted right off the bat. She hadn't meant to come off as rude or the like, but her good friend's appearance certainly shocked her.

"Hello to you too, Orihime-chan!" Rangiku chirped, teasing as she pulled Orihime into a tight hug. The healer could feel herself being robbed of her breath as Rangiku held her in her bosom, but seeing as she'd hardly seen her, Orihime let the tightness of the hug slide for now. "I was here on a call for something and I got the okay to stop by and chat for a little while."

A call? In the back of her mind, Orihime's mind wandered to the second mission and she couldn't help but wonder if there was something that had happened that required Rangiku's help. After all, Rukia had said they were being sent to cities to scout for the reiatsus.

Gasping lightly, Orihime wondered if there was something here that they deemed suspicious, and as a result, they sent Rangiku to investigate. She wanted to ask her if her theory was true, but Rangiku hadn't known about Orihime aware of the mission, nor did she know if it was even supposed to be talked about in the first place. For all she knew, what Rukia had told them could've been something that was not supposed to be mentioned at all!

"So, dish," was all Rangiku said, letting herself in and quickly finding a spot on the couch. Orihime still stood by the door, her face blank with confusion. Apparently she needed to clarify herself. "About Ichigo. I saw you two getting comfy while he walked you home."

Realizing that was what Rangiku was talking about, Orihime let her worries over the mission slip away and instead let the new memories with Ichigo flood back instead. With the memories came a hot blush over her cheeks and that wasn't something Orihime could easily hide.

Her steps were staggered nervously as she joined Rangiku on the couch, but there was still a bounce to her step, practically letting the shinigami know Orihime had quickly floated up to cloud nine.

Smiling nervously, Orihime began.

"Well, it all started when..."

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	3. Chapter 3

_Phew! Another chapter! Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts, and favorites for this story! I'll try to work on the next chapter soon, but school has been kicking my butt lately with all this homework. _

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><p>A loud, deafening roar pierced the sky and the source of the scream was a monster, a hollow attacking the city in the middle of the night.<p>

From afar, the reason for its blood-curdling scream was nothing more than a small dot at its feet, but close up, one would see it was a familiar redhead, bent on making this battle her own.

_Almost there...! _she thought, biting her bottom lip in concentration. If she could beat this monster, it would be the fourth one this week where she 'cleaned up', to put it lightly, before Ichigo could arrive. She already felt quite proud of herself of getting this many on her own and this next one would only add to fuel her delighted feelings.

During the past week, it was obvious that she felt bad for Ichigo getting out of bed in the first place to cleanse the hollow's spirit, which meant he woke up for nothing.

A year ago, she wouldn't have been able to last five minutes, but now she was sending spirits to Soul Society all on her own. This new revelation was something to be celebrated and used, she thought.

Tsubaki zoomed around and struck the unusually large hollow once again, this time in the shoulder. The odd cry it emitted rang out into the sky once again as it attempted to take a swipe at the small, but powerful fairy.

Halfheartedly, Orihime recalled that day almost six months ago when Urahara determined that she could cleanse the hollows with her powers, almost like a shinigamis. She remembers being greatly enthused to hear the news that she could help without killing anything, despite the fact that the shifty shopkeeper had murmured off to suggest that she still shouldn't take on any by herself.

But Urahara couldn't just rain on her parade like that. He knew she was too excited about it all and he refused to bring that energy level down, especially if it meant she would train _more_ in order to get to that point of taking the hollows on herself.

As she called forth her Santen Kesshun to protect herself from a rather powerful punch the hollow suddenly threw, she could feel herself wavering. Because of her reminiscing over the past revelation, her concentration faltered for a moment, inciting a fierce screech from her offensive fairy.

"Dammit, woman! Stay focused!" Tsubaki yelled, flying around erratically during Orihime's short moment of failure. After muttering a fairly quiet reply of understanding, she narrowed her brows as well as her concentration and willed her fairies to give it one last push to defeat the hollow.

She brought forth her Shiten Koshun, the power she developed only recently, and Tsubaki flew back to her and joined the other three fairies for the final attack. When the hollow would give her one last punch, it would force back the same amount of energy and would hopefully be cleansed. That plan had worked before on the hollows, giving her reason to think it would still work now.

Only, this time, a punch never came. Nor did a slap, kick, or anything else physical that Orihime would've expected. Something else came instead, something that made her eyes widen and her arms fall to her sides in sudden defeat.

Cero.

_I-I've never defeated a hollow that could use a cero before!_ She thought quickly, her mind racing. Should she call back her fairies and run? Or should she stay and will herself to stand by and try to repel the attack?

The blast of energy game too soon and Orihime only had enough time to bring her arms up to cover her face as the cero hit her Shiten Koshun. Even with her shield still up, the attack was quite taxing on her as the fairies tried to take in the overwhelming energy of the blast and reverse it right back to the hollow, along with just enough of her own power to cleanse it when it would strike back.

While her Shun Shun Rikka managed to return most of the attack to the monster and, in turn, caused the hollow to vanish in thin air per usual, the rest of the power of the cero had managed to blow her back, sending her body flying back against the wall of a rather close building. Her small form hit the hard surface and Orihime could've sworn she heard something crack when it hit.

Oh, how it ached when she hit that wall. Her head throbbed and throbbed, although she thought that was because she strained her powers too much this time, but her body seemed to hurt all over. She could only gasp raggedly as she tried to catch her breath after rolling into a less painful position, onto her front side, on the pavement.

_I've been hurt worse,_ she told herself, willing her body to stand up. Her back seemed to scream in pain as she tried to stand up and head home, so she sighed and rested her cheek against the cool pavement and waited another moment. She didn't want to force herself up when she knew she couldn't move anyway.

She already knew she was going to be in trouble.

Even if she were to get up now and bolt for her apartment before she was found out, Ichigo would know she was here. She swallowed thickly and tried to still her spinning head as she sensed Ichigo's reiatsu getting closer and closer.

_I should probably heal myself... _she thought, pursing her lips. Orihime really wouldn't want to worry her friend over what felt like a small scratch and what would later be on heck of a bruise.

Still, her head seemed to be set on the 'merry-go-round' option and she felt that she and her fairies needed another moments rest. Pushing back that cero took more of a toll on her than she anticipated, but now she anticipated Ichigo getting mad at her, which was something she knew she'd have to push through.

In the back of her mind, she wondered what was worse to cope with: Ichigo's anger or a hollow's cero.

Orihime decided that Ichigo's anger was the worst of the two, because with his anger normally came great guilt on her end. So, she'd rather take a cero any day.

Although it was probably the worst place to rest and close her eyes, the healer felt she needed to stop for a moment and collect herself. Her heartbeat was playing a steady tattoo in her ears as she tried to clear her head, but she could still hear the approaching footsteps nearing her fallen form.

"_Fuck," _she heard the person grumble, the low voice immediately alerting her that he had arrived.

If she wasn't able to tell it was Ichigo from his reiatsu or the tone of his voice, she always knew he was one that swore like a pirate.

Orihime prepared a smile for her crush, despite her one side of her face still resting on the cold ground.

"Hello, Kurosaki-kun," she greeted him, her tone unusually warm considering her predicament.

"What did you _do?_" Ichigo asked, his reply rushed and laced with concern.

"Um... Hollow attack," was all Orihime could mutter, feeling her head starting to clear. It still amazed her how her mind and fairies could re-energize so much quicker than, say, a year ago. Cracking open an eye, she could see Ichigo on his knees next to her. She couldn't tell if he was merely inspecting her damage and or if he just didn't know how to go about helping her.

"Must've been one hell of a hollow," he grumbled. He tenderly reached out to touch her back, something she didn't expect him to do in the slightest. It made her face burn hotly and her heart race even faster, as she flinched involuntarily in place. Yet she couldn't tell if she moved because of his touch or the pain. "You're bleeding. Badly."

"I am?" Orihime asked, genuine surprise in her voice. She thought her back seemed slightly damp for some reason, but she figured it was just a small scratch that caused a little bit of bleeding.

He hadn't seen her flustered expression as he trailed a rather large circle on her back. "Yeah, almost all of the back of your shirt is ruined," he spoke while indicating the area with his traveling finger. "Do you think you can stand? We should get you to a bench or something, at least."

Orihime sighed, unsure of whether or not it was because of Ichigo's nonchalant touch or in preparation of getting herself off the cold pavement.

Regardless, Orihime shifted her hands underneath her and tried to push herself off the ground. Her head was slowing down and clearing up more, but she could still feel the merry-go-round in her head still going on.

She gasped at the aches and pains she felt as she at least got herself to a sitting position on the ground. She tried to hold the noises back, as she knew Ichigo was worried. His actions of holding onto her arms to help her up indicated that. She could also tell he felt tense, almost as if he wanted to help her out even more (perhaps carry her to the nearest bench like a bride, but that was far too much of something to wish for).

Orihime made sure to flash him a smile, pained or not, to reassure him that she would be okay.

"I can heal myself here," she murmured from her seat on the ground. Her back was killing her as she just sat on the pavement, she assumed standing up and making the journey to a bench of sorts would be the death of her.

Even though she'd told him she'd be on the ground to heal herself, he still held his hands out as if to catch her if she fell back to the ground. The look on his face, which was twisted and practically begging to say something but held it back, was something she couldn't help but giggle at, despite the ache in her body as the laughter emerged.

"Soten Kisshun," Orihime muttered, allowing her fairies to come out and heal her. They didn't seem nearly as tired as the rest of her fairies were, but she could still feel her head throbbing as she willed herself to keep using her powers. She made a mental note to herself not to push herself as hard next time.

"What exactly happened?" Ichigo asked, getting off his knees and taking a seat on the ground instead.

"Oh, well, the hollow knew how to fire a cero," she smiled and let out a tinkling laugh, to ease the situation. As the warm glow of her shield formed over her back, she began to grow more and more relaxed. "I've never seen one to that before."

Once Ichigo flinched in place, she could tell that she had said the wrong thing.

"You should've waited for me," he hissed, growing fairly angered over the fact that hollow hurt her as bad as it did. When he first showed up and saw her bloodied back, he thought he was going to lose it.

He could stand to see the blood of anything else, but Orihime was just not one of them.

"I... I didn't want it to go anywhere else and-" she stuttered, her voice growing quiet and her eyes falling to her hands in her lap. She was only trying to help, yet she always seemed to mess up somehow.

"-and it still bugs me that you get hurt," he finished, running a hand through his hair. Orihime didn't dare look him in the face because of those words, but she could tell he was embarrassed to say them. The tenseness in his voice said it all. "I don't mind fighting together, Inoue, but getting hurt and bleeding like this isn't okay."

She knew it wasn't okay. Getting hurt in general was never okay. But she could understand what he was trying to say. He wanted her to wait for him so they could both kick butt and come out safe and unscathed.

A warm smile grew on Orihime's face as she turned to face him now. A tinge of redness clung to his cheeks, which only made her smile grow bigger.

"Got it, Kurosaki-kun," she replied, amused to see him turning such a color. It clashed with his hair so oddly, it was funny.

After mentally determining that she was far too exhausted to continue healing herself, Orihime called back her fairies to their respective places in her hairpins. Her back wasn't quite healed up yet, but at least the bleeding stopped.

"Done?" he asked in curiosity, shifting himself in his spot. Her back of her shirt was still soaked in blood, but he told himself it was just leftover from bleeding before.

"Yep! All done," she replied, biting her tongue of the truth. He didn't need to know how she still hurt a little.

Standing up from her spot, Orihime noticed the lack of great pain that used to be in her back. While it still throbbed, it wasn't nearly as bad. The problem she'd need to worry about now was the jello-like feeling in her legs from using so much energy in fighting _and_ healing.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?" she smiled, turning towards the direction of her apartment. She took one step, and that was all that was needed for her knees to give out on her and come falling right to the ground again.

Only, the ground never came.

Instead, she felt a warmness on her side, accompanied with a large, broad hand on her small waist. The warmness from him made her turn quite hot herself.

"Still a little tired?" he mentioned, a small smirk threatening to break out on his face. He found it somewhat... endearing to see her trying to hard (although he would later dismiss that the word used to describe her actions incredibly embarrassing and far from what he meant to say). Orihime blushed hard and nodded slowly. Perhaps she couldn't get away with as much as she used to.

Ichigo moved her hand to his back, instructing her to grab a hold of the fabric of his shihakusho there. She did as instructed and clung on, her movements flimsy and flustered. Ichigo kept a hand on her waist and smiled a little.

"Come on, I'll help you home," he told her, making his obvious plans said out loud. Orihime couldn't hear a word he was saying though, as she was too busy blushing and coming up with daydreams of how this could pan out once they got to her apartment. Something with the couches and ribbon.

Quietly, but comfortably, they both started walking towards Orihime's apartment, completely unaware from the set of eyes that were watching them from afar.

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><p>Ichigo tried to remain as quiet as he could as he crawled through his window. Below, on his bed, he could see his lifeless form, right where he left it. He hadn't expected it to move or anything, but it was always a relief to see it was right where he left it last.<p>

Closing and locking the window behind him, soft footsteps also echoed into the room, causing the substitute shinigami to turn around and see who was coming into his room in the middle of the night.

"Ichigo?" they asked, the small form stepping into the glow of the moonlight. It was Rukia, rubbing her eyes and yawning, and clad in his sister's nightgown.

Sighing, Ichigo turned towards her and folded his arms across his chest. "Go back to bed, Rukia, the hollow is taken care of."

"You're getting faster," she grinned sleepily, resting her hands on her hips. "You used to take forever to defeat hollows. Now you're doing it before I can even wake up."

Ichigo grew silent as he turned back to the window to close the shades. Due to the sudden increase of darkness, Rukia shuffled her feet to his light switch and flipped the button to fill the room with the glow of fluorescent lighting. She had to take a few minutes for her eyes to adjust, as did he.

"Inoue took care of it before I got there," he told her quietly. On the inside, he was still beating himself up for not getting there quicker.

Rukia's eyes grew wide as she assessed Ichigo's form, but more importantly, his hands. "So that's her blood on your hands?"

Ichigo's heart practically stopped when he heard her and, in turn, he looked down to his palms and digits to discover that Orihime's blood had indeed been on his hands. It was dried by now, but he didn't even notice it when he helped her out earlier.

"I... guess," he choked out, already making his way to the bathroom.

Rukia followed after him in concern and he was already in the hallway, just outside the bathroom, when he stopped to face his shinigami friend. She was surprised to see the pain written all over his face. But not just physical pain, but emotional.

"Go back to bed, Rukia," he quietly ordered. He didn't want to deal with her any more tonight, especially since he _knew_ she would question him further about what happened, eventually leading to fueling more guilt.

Thankfully, Rukia just nodded and returned to his sisters' bedroom, leaving him alone in the hall. He returned to the bathroom and didn't even bother to close the door. All he wanted to do now was to wash the blood of his hands.

He felt guilty about it earlier, not being there to help her before she got hurt, but now as her blood sat on his hands, he suddenly felt so much worse. He made a promise to Orihime to protect her before, and it was only recently that he backed off a little and allowed her to fight with him (which was something he found sort of uplifting for some reason).

Yet here he was, after defeating both Aizen and Ginjou, and he couldn't even save his friend from a measly hollow.

_A measly hollow that knew how to fire a cero,_ he reminded himself as he noticed the discoloration wasn't coming off easily on his skin. Still, that little fact about the hollow's new power was something he'd need to talk to someone about. Maybe Rukia, maybe Urahara... Hell, even his dad might be someone worth talking about this new revelation.

For the time being, Ichigo could only do what he could and that was to defend the cities from hollows. Perhaps even more training could be in order.

But first, he needed to wash this guilt off his hands.

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End file.
